Charles City 19-Year-Old Arrested for Burning Rubber in New Hampton High School Parking Lot

A Charles City 19-year-old has been arrested for “burning rubber” in the New Hampton High School parking lot.

The Winneshiek County Sheriff’s Office says Damien Thornton was taken into custody shortly after 2:30 am Sunday (09.03) morning in Calmar. He was wanted on a Chickasaw County warrant charging him with second-degree criminal mischief, a Class D felony.

According to court records, New Hampton Police issued Thornton three tickets for reckless driving at about 8:30 pm the night of August 20th in the New Hampton High School parking lot. Thornton is accused of driving his truck “in such a manner as to indicate either a willful or a wanton disregard for the safety of persons or property and is guilty of reckless driving. The defendant did do burn outs causing his tires to break free and slide around throughout the parking lot. These actions did cause $5,300 in damages.”

The alleged incident was caught on a school security camera, with a still image posted in the New Hampton Community Schools Facebook page.

Just a couple of days before the incident, crews had completed the parking lot project, paving it with concrete after decades of the lot being gravel. The project was estimated to cost around $550,000.